kia sonet: Kia Sonet vs Hyundai Venue: Key differences – Times of India

NEW DELHI: One lakh sales in less than a year speak volumes about Hyundai’s smallest SUV. Venue is here to stay. In fact the entry was evolutionary with features packed to the gills, boxy yet stylish proportions and a battery of engine options.
Exactly a year down the line, Hyundai’s associate company Kia Motors is ready with Sonet SUV to enter the high active segment. Sonet and Venue share a lot, from engine options to the platform. Much like Seltos and Creta, this duo will present a worth rivalry. Sonet and Venue’s debuts are separated by a year, so is the touch of modernity. Here are the seven key highlights you would witness in Sonet but not in Venue:

1. Diesel AT: Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue share the same 1.5-litre diesel engine. While Sonet offers a 7-speed DCT and a 6-speed automatic transmission with the diesel engine, while the Hyundai Venue offers only a 6-speed MT with its diesel engine. Other engine options include 1-litre turbo-petrol (MT, DCT, iMT) and 1.2-litre petrol (manual).
2. Front parking sensors: Kia Sonet offers this feature to appeal to the urban crowds as it can come very handy while parking the car in really small spaces. These front parking sensors automatically activate when the car is moving at a speed of 5-6 kmph.

3. Ventilated seats: Kia Sonet played it big and got this premium feature which is only boasted by cars much above its price range. The compact SUV offers ventilated seats for both the driver and the front passenger. The same feature is offered by Kia and Hyundai in their SUV twins – Seltos and Creta respectively.
4. Remote engine/stop feature: Both the compact SUVs boast this feature but the difference is that Hyundai Venue only offers it with the automatic variants, whereas the Kia Sonet offers the feature in both MT and AMT variants.

5. Design: Both the SUVs are designed on same platform. That’s the end of the similarities between the two. Hyundai Venue packs boxy proportions with rectangular headlamps and grille, sleek DRLs. Seltos, on the other hand, is anything but similar. The aggressive tiger-nose grille, LED DRLs with kink, vertically-stacked tail lamps are much inspired from the Seltos. Go for Seltos if you like it bold, Venue if sophistication is the key.
6. Air purifier: Kia Sonet is equipped with the Smart Pure Air Purifier which comes with virus protection. The two-level purification system has the pollutant-cleansing HEPA filter which incorporates N29 and the UVC LED filter which eliminates the bacteria and viruses in the cabin. Sonet also displays the air-quality score on the centre screen as well as the dedicated display at the back. Though Venue does sport an air purifier, Hyundai offers it as an external fitment.
7. In-car features: Kia Sonet and Hyundai Venue do share some common in-cabin features like electric sunroof, rear ac vents, wireless charging among a few others. But the Kia Sonet leaps way ahead with the Bose 7-speaker sound system which is paired with sound mood lamps that light up the interior to the beat of the music. Sonet packs the largest infotainment unit along with an extended one-piece driver’s digital display, something we are used to seeing in high-end luxury cars.
Kia Sonet, on paper, looks like a decent entratant in B-segment SUV. Not just the likes of Hyundai Venue, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tata Nexon, Mahindra XUV300 and Ford EcoSport will be wary of Sonet, but a segment above as well. Hold your horses, Toyota, Skoda and Tata are also set to enter some fiery products.
Hyundai, on Venue’s first anniversary, has also introduced a sports trim along with iMT gearbox. The race will surely be neck and neck.
It will be unjust to call Sonet a runaway champion based on the first look. The prices, drive quality, handling and a lot of other factors are there to look forward to. Also, Kia Motors is still in its early days, with the likes of Hyundai, M&M and Tata Motors having greater sales and service network.